Mumbai Police Bank Accounts Hacked

The Times of India reports that hackers recently accessed 37 accounts at India's Axis Bank, 14 of which were held by Mumbai policemen. The hackers withdrew a total of Rs 15.48 lakh (approximately US $27,000) from ATMs in Greece.

The police believe that criminals put a skimming device on an ATM next door to police headquarters in April 2013.

On June 10, a policeman received a text message informing him that Rs 9,500 had been withdrawn from his account. He then went to an ATM and received a statement showing that the money had been withdrawn in Greece.

When he mentioned the theft to colleagues, he discovered that several others had been targeted in a similar way.

"The accused had attached a tiny skimming device to the ATM machine," Ravindra Shisve, deputy commissioner of police, told the Times of India. "The skimmer would copy all the transaction data and information from the magnetic strip of an inserted card. ... The accused either sent this data electronically to someone in Greece or they themselves used it to withdraw money in Greece. We are probing the case and a police team will go to Greece to trace the accused."

"A small number of our customers' accounts (fewer than 50) have been impacted through transactions at compromised ATMs in Mumbai belonging to multiple banks," an Axis Bank spokesperson said. "We have reversed the impact in all such customers' accounts with immediate effect, to ensure they are not inconvenienced. We are undertaking a full investigation into the incident and are working closely with law enforcement officials in this regard."